Two Souls, One Body (CANCELLED)
by TheGreatBlueDane
Summary: Hawkfrost redemption story number three hundred and fifty-two. There may or may not be some singing as well.
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

* * *

Darkness. That was all Snow could see before she landed at the bottom of the seemingly endless abyss she had fallen into, the opening of the hole having long disappeared from her sight. She thought she had died but instead she found herself on dirt.

 _"Was it all just a dream?"_ she thought. _"No,"_ she shook the thought from her head, _"It couldn't have been."_ The rush of adrenaline from her drop felt all too real. She opened her shining aquamarine eyes to find that she wasn't in the same forest anymore. She was in the middle of a clearing encircled by thorny, dark bushes. The area outside the clearing was shrouded in a thick mist, but she could see enough to know that she was in a forest. She looked up expecting to see a speckle of stars across the sky but she found nothing. The only source of light was the scarlet moon that hung in the sky. It seemed glare down at her, as if she had done something to provoke its angry gaze.

The atmosphere seemed to have a sense of loneliness and despair and made Snow's stomach cringe.

 _"Am I dead?"_ She quickly lifted a paw to her chest and to her relief, her heart was steadily beating in her chest.

" _Okay then, so I'm not dead, and I wasn't dreaming. So where am I?"_

"What are you doing here?"

Startled, Snow leaped to her paws and whipped around to find a muscular, mackerel-striped, tabby tom cat. He also had a snow white underbelly and pale icy blue eyes. And he didn't look very happy. Snow was tiny compared to him, even if they were the same age. Snow gulped nervously, as she had forgotten to check if she was in another cat's territory.

"I-I'm sorry if I was trespassing in your territory," she quickly said, "I'll leave right away!" She continued to back away slowly, hoping to get a head start in the possible chase afterwards.

Meanwhile, the tom was trying to figure out what this pure white she-cat was doing here. He hadn't willed her to be here, and she didn't seem to know who he was or where she was, so the possibility that she had wanted be here was out of the question. The chance that she had died and come here was unlikely, as she didn't look like the type to commit any crimes or break the Warrior Code.

"You shouldn't be here." He hissed.

Snow froze in place and her eyes immediately filled with fear.

Quicker than the eye could blink, the tom had pinned her to the ground and had already raised a paw to deal a killing blow. Snow flailed wildly and somehow managed to throw the tom off of her. He flew into the bushes, and she scrambled to her feet, lunging over the bushes without so much a look over her shoulder.

She darted behind a tree and took a moment to slow her breathing. The forest around her was too quiet, which could only mean that the tom was somewhere nearby. Suddenly, said cat leapt out of the fog and Snow quickly jumped out the way, the tom's claws raking against her shoulder. Snow hissed in pain and kicked dirt in the tom's eyes. He blindly lashed out, barely missing her ears. While he was still disoriented, she took the chance to run away. Her leg screamed at her to stop running, but she knew that if she did, the tom would be able to do whatever he wanted to her.

As she ran deeper into the forest, the fog only seemed to grow thicker. Suddenly, a tree popped into Snow's line of vision. She attempted to slow down, but ended up slamming her back into the tree. Her attempts to get up sent pain pulsing through her shoulder. Instead, she pressed herself against the tree to make herself look smaller.

The tom's figure appeared in the fog and got bigger and bigger as he drew near to her. Her heart sped up and it felt like it was ready to jump out her chest.

"Do you not know where you are?" the tom pressed as his features became clearer and clearer. Snow frantically shook her head in response, too scared to actually speak.

"You're in the Dark Forest," he growled, "There is no leaving here."

The tom lunged at her, and Snow darted under his belly and continued to run in the same direction, hoping that he was wrong. The fog began to thin out as she reached what she assumed was the edge of the forest. A gigantic wall of thorns loomed in the distance, but she was determined not to let that stop her. To her surprise, part of the wall fell away, as if it could somehow sense her presence.

At the moment, Snow didn't care why the wall opened up, she just wanted get out whatever this place was. The tom wasn't far behind her, though.

 _"Have to keep running,"_ she thought. For a few moments, the two were charging blindly through pure darkness that seemed stretch on in all directions. Finally, a light appeared. Invigorated by the promise of escape from the seemingly never-ending blackness, she put on a surge of speed and burst into a grassy landscape.

As soon as she had reached the grass, however, the tom had reached her and tackled her. Snow was smart enough to know what would happen to her if he ended up on top, so she turned his weight against himself and pinned. She snarled at him and threateningly unsheathed her claws.

"Impressive for someone whose parents never taught her how to fight." said the tom with an amused look on his face. Snow gasped and clambered of the tom before saying, "Who are you?"

"My name is Hawkfrost."


	2. Chapter Two

Hawkfrost was getting rather annoyed at their slow progress towards the shining monolith on the mountain. If he had been going by himself, the journey to the mountain would have only taken a quarter of a moon, but because of the extra cat and her wound, the journey would take roughly half a moon, a third if her wound healed quickly. He had to constantly remind himself that she was the only way they had gotten past the wall in the first place.

 _"If you ask me, she should've expected a battle,"_ he thought irritatedly. _"Even if she hadn't known how to fight, she could've dodged that swipe and avoided getting pinned the first time."_

Meanwhile, all sorts of thoughts were racing through Snow's head, including the legend surrounding their destination.

* * *

 _"Strange," Hawkfrost said with a look of disinterest as he licked a paw. "How the wall opened to you and ignored my presence."_

 _Snow simply looked at him wearily, still cautious about the odd tom._

 _"Do you know why this is?"_

 _Snow shook her head slowly._

 _"Mouse-brain. The reason is that you are in the world of the dead and the Dark Forest knew that you were not supposed to be there."_

 _"What is the Dark Forest anyway? I've never heard of it before."_

 _"You don't know what the Dark Forest is?"_

 _Snow shook her head once more, a slightly confused look present on her face._

 _"You must be a loner then. I don't see a collar on you. Why are you here, then? The Dark Forest is only for those that have committed crimes against the Clans or came from them and you don't exactly look like the villainous type."_

 _"I don't know," she said. "The last thing I can remember before waking up was getting attacked by a badger and falling into a hole. Everything's fuzzy after that."_

"Her story doesn't make any sense," _Hawkfrost thought._ "It's not possible for someone to just fall into the spirit world. But that mountain does remind me of something. . ."

 _The first thing Hawkfrost noticed when they had bypassed the wall was that there was a foreboding mountain off in the distance, a titan beam of light reaching from the peak and into the heavens._

"Could it be. . ."

 _Hawkfrost had heard it was possible to find a way back to the living world if one could find a way past the thorns on the other side of the Dark Forest. But the thorns wouldn't open unless you were someone worthy of redemption. He simply had a lucky break. It was only chance that Snow had fallen into the Dark Forest and that she had fallen into his realm. Under different circumstances, she could've fallen into some other cat's realm or she might not have fallen into the Dark Forest at all._

 _"There is something good that can from this, however."_

 _Snow stopped licking her wound to look up at him and say, "What are you suggesting?"_

 _"There is a legend surrounding the mountain in the distance. The legend says that the shining beam of light at the top is a way back to the living world. The journey there is very perilous and no cat has ever returned from it, though."_

 _"I don't really see where you're going with this."_

 _Hawkfrost flicked his tail in annoyance, and said, "The journey to get there would be easier if there where two cats to get through it."_

 _Snow got what he was trying to say, so it was no surprise about what she said next. "What's in it for me? I mean, you kind of already showed me that you're not interested in going anywhere with me."_

 _"You're trapped in the world of the dead with nothing to go on other than a legend we're not even sure is true. You don't have any other options besides wait here until you fade away."_

"He is right," _Snow thought begrudgingly_ , "but I fear that I may be walking into a trap. Either way, my only chance is to trust him and hope I can survive the journey and him to get back home."

 _And with that, Snow reluctantly agreed to the deal. She had no idea what she getting herself into, though._

"Excellent job, Hawkfrost," _whispered a voice in his head._ "Just stick to the plan and her place in the living world is as good as ours."

"Which brings me once step closer to revenge." _Hawkfrost thought in reply._

* * *

Snow had stayed at the back of the group ever since the agreement, and didn't plan on being less than a tail's length closer to him.

The walk was silent and both cats were fine with that. They walked for what seemed like hours but the scarlet moon remained in the same place. Soon they came upon a wide rapid, about ten cat-lengths long. Hawkfrost couldn't tell how deep the river was, or how fast it was moving. He just knew that you could swept away in it.

"Do you know how to swim?" he asked, pulling the she-cat out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, but it's not something to be proud of." She replied.

"Good. I don't want to have to fish you out of the river."

Hawkfrost searched the area for a easy way to get across and finally settled upon a log. It was rotting but looked like it would hold their weight. He padded up to it and cautiously placed a paw on it. The wood ever so slightly creaked under the new weight, but did not budge or give any indication that the log would break. Confident that the log wouldn't snap, he climbed onto the log and beckoned Snow to follow him.

It didn't quite reach the other side of the river, but the distance from the log to the bank was an easy jumping distance.

" _Here's your chance to lose the she-cat."_ The voice whispered in his head.

" _No,"_ Hawkfrost replied quickly. _"She might prove to be useful later on. There will be plenty of other chances to get rid of her."_

Why had he said that? Hawkfrost didn't care for her at all and now would've been the perfect chance to rid himself of her company. _"Whatever. There will be other chances."_ He thought, pushing the notion to the back of his mind.

Suddenly, the log threateningly creaked under their weight as they moved further down the log. Hawkfrost froze in place but the log snapped in half. Acting quickly, he jumped off the log as it fell. To his horror, the river widened.

He slammed into the surface of the water and found himself barraged by rushing water. He struggled to right himself, finally managing to do so after three minutes. He peered through the blur of moving liquid for Snow. He found her flipping head over heels, probably unable to tell up from down. He kicked through the water and grabbed her by the scruff. He managed heave them both above the water. Alas, the journey to the other side of the water was no harder than it was to defeat a badger by yourself, despite the fact Snow was trying to swim herself.

Hawkfrost was determined not to let the thing that represented his Clan be his downfall, so he continued to struggle against the current. It took every bit of his being to continue fighting the rapids. The river continued to stretch as it did before, and eventually, his legs gave out, the victor of the battle the river.

* * *

Hawkfrost collapsed on the gravel, panting heavily. He had been awake the entire trip down the river and had noticed when it had deepened and turned into a pond. He just about managed to drag them ashore with what little energy he had left. He looked over at Snow and was rather shocked at what he found. Underneath her fur, her ribs were showing slightly, which every decent cat knew meant that she was actually starving. He felt a small twinge of pity for her, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts when he heard her murmur about wanting to go sleep. He jabbed her in the side with a paw and hissed, "You can't fall asleep here!"

She groaned in response and rolled onto her side. She pulled herself to her paws and began to check for any other injuries that might slow them down. Satisfied, she turned her attention to Hawkfrost. He was struggling to get up himself. At first, she considered leaving him alone for the time being, but of course she didn't listen to her head, like she always did.

She padded over to him and mewed, "Do you need help?"

"I'm fine." He huffed, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

"But-"

"I _said_ I'm fine." He hissed through his teeth.

She flattened her ears to her head and displayed a slightly hurt look on her face. Hawkfrost turned away quickly and walked off, not stopping to apologize or beckon her to follow. Snow simply looked at him before breaking into a trot catch up with him. She avoided him for the rest of the day.

Well, you wouldn't be able to say it was day. The moon never moved from its spot in the sky. There was a reason it was called the Dark Forest. You could just tell if it was daytime or nighttime.

Later on, they found a place to settle down for the night in an abandoned hollow, presumably made by a cat who had been the way they had. The air was stale and it was slightly uncomfortable, but it was good enough. As soon as Snow stepped in, she paced around a spot and lied down, facing away from the tom. Hawkfrost, however, wasn't so quick to fall asleep. Instead, he waited for a few hours so he could do one thing.

"Snow, are you asleep?"

No answer.

"Snow?"

Actually, Snow was awake. She was just too tired to answer. Or rather, too lazy.

"Good."

"What makes you so different from the others? You're just a normal she-cat. And a loner at that. I've never really cared for loners. My mother was one herself, and she left the Clans after few days. Said Clan life wasn't for her. I never believed her."

Snow would've gasped if she didn't have to remind herself that she was pretending to be asleep.

"But somehow I found you. It was probably just luck, but something keeps telling me it wasn't. You were interesting. You had a normal life, but your parents cared for you more than mine ever did. But I know what it feels like to lose someone close to you."

" _How did he find out. . . ?"_

He paused for a moment, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"Could it be possible that I actually love this cat?"

Snow tensed up for a moment, but Hawkfrost didn't notice.

"It can't be. Even if I did, it wouldn't work out. My parents are a sign of that. So, why do I feel so horrible about saying that to you?"

Snow wanted so much to tell him that she wasn't asleep and to say that she shared the same feelings. But she couldn't. There was no way of telling how he would react. Most of them were telling her that she would get her ears clawed off. So she kept quiet, for now. If she were lucky, she might be able to catch him doing it again. And next time, she would confess as well.

 **A/N: First off, disclaimer; this story is not meant to be a copy of Tigerstar's Journey to Redemption(which is an excellent story, by the way) or the indie video game Journey. Those are just my basis points for this story. Second, I don't exactly have a name for the second consciousness inside Hawkfrost yet. I'm thinking his name should be Shade or something. Third, I will probably make an origin story for Snow. I don't really have the inspiration to do so right now.**


	3. Chapter Three

Snow was steadily closing the distance between her and Hawkfrost, both physically and emotionally. She allowed herself to walk closer to him everyday. He didn't seem to notice, but if he did, he didn't say anything. Snow's wound was also improving, albeit at a less than desirable pace. Other than these things, the next two "days" were rather uneventful. However, it was unlikely that the peace would stay long. Which is exactly why what broke the peace was so surprising.

 _Scritch-scratch._

Hawkfrost's ear twitched ever so slightly.

 _Scritchy-scratch, scritch scratch._

Hawkfrost lazily lifted an eyelid. Snow was not inside the burrow. He pulled himself to his paws and listened closely.

 _Scratch, scratch, scritchy-scratch._

The sound, being irritating in and of itself, was rather curious, as there weren't many things that could make a sound like that. He padded to the entrance and heaved himself up. Whatever was making this sound had to have been very close by in order for him to hear underground. The object that had peaked his curiosity, however, wasn't very extraordinary, considering the amount of cats living in the Place of No Stars.

To his surprise, Snow was the one making the sound. She was digging a hole, making a strange little noise all the while.

"What are you doing?" He said this with a rather confused look on his face.

The she-cat paused in her actions to look up at him and say, "Oh, hello, Hawkfrost!" Her pure white coat had been tainted in some places by the dirt, but she acted as if it wasn't even there.

"You didn't answer the question." He spoke in an unimpressive tone.

"I don't know. I just woke up and started digging." She turned and resumed her task. This thoroughly confused Hawkfrost. Cats just don't "wake up and start digging." She couldn't have been trying to dig a second burrow because she was digging straight down, and it couldn't have been that she was trying to bury something because there was nothing _to_ bury in the Place of No Stars.

"I don't see how this is helping us get to the mountain," he said. "It's completely irrelevant to-"

"Hey, I found worms!"

Hawkfrost jerked his head back in surprise. "What?"

Snow leaped out the hole, said animals wriggling around in her jaws. She spat them out on the grass and said in a hopeful tone, "That's good, right?"

"No, it's not."

"How is it not? This is the first sign of life we've seen! Other than me, I mean."

"It's not good because if worms can live in the spirit world, then that means there are worse things that can show up without warning, like badgers or Two-Legs. Your presence in the land of the dead is throwing it completely off balance. The sooner you leave, the better."

However, this was just a façade. He could care less for the Dark Forest. He couldn't exactly say the same for her.

And a few hours later, Hawkfrost would turn out to be right.

* * *

"My stomach feels weird," Snow said. "Does it have something to do with being in the Dark Forest?" She hoped it wasn't too serious. The last thing they needed was more setbacks on the way to the mountain.

"If you consider being hungry and not hungry at the same time bad, then yes." He replied in a matter-of-factly way.

"Well, it feels horrible. Is it always like this in the Dark Forest? Having water in front of you, but never being able to actually drink it?"

"That's why it's called the Dark Forest. It's a place of torment and despair. It's meant for cats that don't follow the Warrior Code. "

"I don't think anybody deserves that." She said softly. The words were never meant to reach Hawkfrost's ears, but they did anyway. He didn't answer because he was busy with something else at the time.

 _"Why do you bother keeping this she-cat around? She is of no use to us."_ Shade said.

 _"Yes, she is. You simply don't see her potential yet."_ Hawkfrost replied to this with a slightly irritated tone, and Shade knew this meant something.

 _"You and I both know that you're keeping her around for some other reason, and I'm going to find out what it is, whether or not you like it."_

He didn't have a chance to answer as Snow's antics had distracted him. A sharp, stinging pain arched up his tail, making him whip around to face Snow.

"What are you doing?!" he spat loudly, at the realization that Snow had clawed the tip of his tail.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" she hissed through her teeth. "I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes. I think we're being watched."

In the time he had been talking to Shade, he hadn't noticed that they had wandered into the center of a dirt valley. At first glance, it looked like a normal vale in the middle of nowhere, but something was off about it. The various burrows that appeared here and there were rather suspicious and looked abandoned, especially the gigantic one in front of them but he wasn't too sure. And that unsettled him.

Suddenly, a deep, guttural growling resonated across the valley, emanating from every burrow but coming from nowhere at all at the same time. Snow instinctively arched her back and hissed out a warning.

 _Thump._

Snow stopped hissing and stared at the burrows with a nervous look on her face.

 _Thump!_

"H-hawkfrost," Snow mewed, fear present in her voice. "I think we need to run."

 _THUMP!_

"Now."

He didn't answer. He kept glaring intensely at the gigantic burrow in front of him, clearly intent on facing whatever was underground. Suddenly, a badger's paw as big as his head slowly emerged from the dark shadows of the hole and into clear sight. Snow didn't even want to see how big the rest was.

"We need to go right now!" she mewed hurriedly.

He didn't need to be told twice. He knew which fights to avoid, and this one was a battle they definitely couldn't win.

He whipped around and broke into the fastest sprint he could manage, with Snow following close behind. The humongous badger was too far behind, either. Her wound may have hindered Snow before, but it seemed as if it wasn't even there. She almost matched Hawkfrost stride for stride. She could practically feel the lumbering beast's hot breath on her heels and all it did was encourage her to run from the jaws of death swifter. The chase led them into a rocky wasteland, volcanic craters abound.

A sharp pain shot up her leg as Snow found herself falling forward onto her face. She looked back with absolute terror on her face but it seemed there was something else as well. Hawkfrost couldn't seem to figure out what it was though. Nevertheless, he disregarded it and clawed the badger's eye just before it reached Snow.

It reared back and roared in pain and anger. Only more rage entered it as it watched the figures drift away from sight through its one good eye. No matter, the cats were only running from an inevitable death. It would end for them in a few minutes, just like it had for so many before them.

It purposefully chased them into a canyon, where their end would surely come. However, it was chasing them

"Hawkfrost, what do we do?" Worry and fear laced her voice, as well as the unknown thing that he couldn't recognize.

"We'll lose it at that cliff. Badgers can't climb as fast as cats." He replied with a stoic look on his face. He rarely ever showed any emotions other than anger and the one he had now. Even so his words did nothing to comfort her. She only hoped that he was right and that she would live to thank him.

They leaped over a pile of titan-sized bones that Snow could only imagine belonged to another badger before this one. It still had a thin covering of skin attached to it, which was just strong enough to hold their weight.

Hawkfrost leapt from ledge to ledge, never staying on one for too long. She was close behind, matching him leap for leap. There was no time to take it easy and slow down so the stress on her wound wasn't so great, for every moment they wasted was another moment closer to death.

She lunged for the ridge just above her, but fell short by just a few paw lengths. Heaving, she hooked her claws into the rock, ignoring the searing pain in her paws, and slowly began to inch up the rocky cliff-side. She heard the cracking under her but she ignored it.

"Come on . . ." she muttered. "Just a little further . . ."

The crackling increased as she continued to push herself past her limit. Fear and panic swelled up in her heart and she lost her focus for just a minute.

"Hawkfrost!"

Just now he had reached the top of the cliff, and wasn't too surprised when he heard his name. He rushed back to the side and readied himself for whatever problem she had gotten herself into.

"Help!" Snow's back half wasn't even on the ledge and it was still threatening to give out under her weight.

 _"You fool! You should-"_

 _"SHUT UP!"_ He was fed up with Shade's constant complaining about Snow. _"Your plans have never worked, and it's time we did things my way."_

Snow reached out a paw towards him and for a second she felt like he had abandoned her. Swiftly, he reached out and hope entered her heart once more. It was quickly dashed when the ridge gave way.

"No!"

Snow yowled as she suddenly felt gravity's pull increase on her body. She twisted as she tried right herself in mid-air. It was in vain, for gravity was quicker than she. She slammed into the ground with a hiss; thankful the impact hadn't crushed her ribs. Stumbling, she heaved to her legs.

Once again, that fearful look appeared on her face as she backed through the ribs of the unknown beast and into the wall behind her. He knew what that look was now. It was that look you had when you realized, no, _realized_ what your fate was.

Regardless, he pushed the thought into the back of his mind, bunching his muscles, and leapt off the edge of the cliff. He landed directly on the badger's back and pushed his claws as deep as he could into its back. It roared in pain as a response, frantically swinging around in an attempt to throw him off. Hawkfrost released his grip on the creature and jumped, never faltering once.

He kept his fur slicked down and hissed loudly. The badger charged at him with deadly speed. He ducked under it just in time, flipping onto his back and clawing the beast's belly. It had no time to stop and avoid the attack, for its speed rendered it unable to turn, thus it crashed into the rock uselessly. Hawkfrost used the opportunity to leap the creature's back once more and sink his claws into its shoulders. It let loose a roar muffled by the stone and Hawkfrost quickly leaped back, preparing himself for another attack.

The badger pulled himself from the canyon side and whirled around, shaking its head to clear it of the debris. It charged again, however, instead of barreling at him, it took a running jump. He barely evaded the assault and no time to prepare for another. It charged at him once more but just before it reached a mass or pure white fur rammed itself into the beast and sent it stumbling to the side. It smashed into the canyon side with such a force, that when it slumped to the ground, the badger did not attempt to get back up.

The white mass of fur was Snow herself, who had been watching the entire fight with a horrified look upon her face. After seeing the badger charge at him for the third time, she snapped herself out of her horror filled dazed and took action.

The two bolted out the canyon and as far away from the badger as possible. The canyon, along with the badger became specks in the distance, before, eventually disappearing from sight completely. Snow and Hawkfrost stopped after this and the she-cat collapsed on the dirt. She began to run her tongue over her fur, which had been stained pink by the bloodshed from the battle.

Hawkfrost occupied himself by cleaning himself up as well. He paused in the middle of doing so, to look up at Snow who was still shaking from the terror of the battle. She was frantically trying to clean off the blood from the fight, and it almost seemed as if she was scared of the blood itself.

"Why were you so scared?"

She stopped and stared at him with wide blue eyes.

"I-I don't like talking about it." She got up and quickly trod past him and headed towards the mountain, making it quite clear that she wanted to avoid any questions concerning her abnormal fear of the badger. This left Hawkfrost with a slightly confused expression on his face because he had never seen her act this way, not even when they met.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not updating for so long! I've been distracted by a lot of things, like other stories that need my attention, a broken hot water heater, school, and a few other things. But now that I'm back, I'm going to try updating stories every other week, so you won't have to wait so long for a new chapter.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Cutedash55**


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